First, you must get rid of the idea that sound is required for learning. It isn’t.

I’ll repeat: sound is NOT required for learning.

The idea that sound is required for learning has been a major bane of Deaf education, worldwide. It is bought into by oral schools/programs.

I was lucky I grew up speaking American Sign Language (ASL). My teachers used ASL to teach me to read and write. They used the manual alphabet in ASL to teach me the letters. I’d look at the letters and associate them with their ASL alphabet. Then I’d learn to put the letters together to form a word, and pictures/drawings helped with the visualization process. Then from there it was a matter of putting words together to make a sentence.

My two Deaf sons (now 8 and 6) have learned their reading and writing in pretty much the same way I did, and they are also doing well.

Second, when you say “speak,” I know you mean the use of voice. But I must let you know that using voice is not the only way to speak. I speak through my hands. I communicate words, thoughts, ideas through my hands. I am not silent. I am not mute. I speak a language. The only difference is, you use your mouth, and I use my hands.

Third, Deaf people are visual beings, and they learn best visually. They need visual access to communication, which then gives them access to information. Hearing people need to remember that what works for hearing people doesn’t always work as well for Deaf people.